1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to an apparatus for extracting coffee, and more particularly to a coffee extracting apparatus for use in a coffee machine, which is modularized so as to be easily mounted on and detached from the coffee machine.
2. Description of the Related Art
A coffee machine is typically provided therein with an apparatus for extracting coffee, which serves to receive coffee grinds and fresh water and to discharge final coffee beverage therefrom. Recently, the apparatus for extracting coffee is modularized to be easily mounted on and detached from the coffee machine. Accordingly, the modularized apparatus allows a user to easily access and clean interiors of the modularized apparatus and the coffee machine, and allows a user to easily detach and repair the modularized apparatus from the coffee machine when the modularized apparatus malfunctions.
An example of a coffee machine equipped with such a modularized apparatus for extracting coffee is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,681,028.
The coffee machine disclosed in the above U.S. patent includes a coffee supply unit for feeding coffee grinds, a water supply unit for feeding fresh water, and an apparatus adapted to prepare a coffee mixture of the coffee grinds and the water, to separate the coffee grinds from the coffee liquid, and to discharge the final coffee beverage therefrom.
The apparatus includes a hopper into which coffee grinds are poured, a movable sleeve disposed below the hopper to receive the coffee grinds, a piston disposed in the sleeve to be moved back and forth and having a plurality of holes formed thereto, a crank mechanism driven by a drive source such as a motor so as to move the movable sleeve and the piston, and an extracting head provided at its lower end with a filter element for filtering the coffee liquid, thereby allowing coffee liquid to be discharged by one revolution of the drive source.
More specifically, the coffee grinds, which are poured into the hopper, are first introduced into the sleeve and then placed on an upper end of the piston, and the movable sleeve is rotated from below the hopper to below the distributor head by means of the crank mechanism operatively connected to the drive source. Subsequently, the movable sleeve is raised toward the extracting head by a predetermined distance, and the extracting head is inserted into the movable sleeve. Thereafter, the piston is raised in the sleeve to compress the coffee grinds.
At this point, hot water is supplied to a lower portion of the movable sleeve from the water supplying unit under a certain high pressure, and the hot water is injected into the movable sleeve through the holes of the piston, to be mixed with the coffee grinds. The coffee mixture is extruded to a discharge path provided in the vicinity of the distributor head through the filter element attached to the lower end of the extracting head. Finally, the coffee liquid in the discharge path is discharged out of the apparatus.
Thereafter, as the movable cylinder is returned to its rest position by actuation of the crank mechanism, the coffee grinds remaining on the piston are removed by a lower end of the hopper.
However, in the conventional apparatus for extracting coffee, since hot water, which is to be mixed with coffee grinds, is supplied to an extracting head from a movable sleeve which is disposed at a relatively low position with respect to the extracting head, a considerable amount of coffee grinds remain on a filter element attached to the extracting head. Consequently, since fine holes of the filter element are blocked by the coffee grinds, it is not easy to smoothly discharge coffee liquid therethrough.
In addition, since a user must frequently remove coffee grinds from the filter element, it is considerably difficult to manage the coffee extracting apparatus.